CFK flies to Rome to hold private audience with Pope Francis

On March last year, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner attended Pope Francis'' Inauguration Mass at the Vatican and met with the pontiff privately after the ceremony.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was flying to Rome where she will be holding an audience with Pope Francis on Monday. Later in the week, the head of state will be attending the Salon du livre in Paris, a top book event in Europe that this year has Argentina as guest of honour, and meet French leader Fracois Hollande.

A private audience with the Argentine pontiff has been scheduled for Monday 17. At the Vatican’s Santa Marta residency, Ms. Kirchner is expected to hand the pontiff in the identification card and passport he asked for some weeks ago when he expressed his will to travel the world as a regular Argentine and not a privileged citizen of the Vatican City microstate. According to Worship Secretary Guillermo Olvideri, it will be an “open agenda” meeting, that takes place a few days after Francis marked his first anniversary as head of the Catholic Church.

Following her Rome stop, Fernández de Kirchner will be arriving in France to attend the Paris book fair and gather with her Franch counterpart Francois Hollande. The Kirchner-Hollande meeting comes ahead of the May negotiations between Argentina and the Paris Club.

CFK’s return is expected for Friday 21. This will be Ms. Kirchner’s first international tour following the head surgery she was forced to undergo in October last year, that kept her off public stage for two months.